News

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FLEET News

Engaging public conversations at Melbourne Knowledge Week

Melbourne Knowledge Week (26 April-2 May 2021) was an opportunity for FLEET to engage with over 350 members of the public about the exciting future of computing, and the vital role of energy-efficient electronics in that future. FLEET’s sustainable computing booth ran for the full week at the festival hub, with hands-on science demonstrations linked to materials used in FLEET …

FLEET reps at Science meets Parliament

FLEET had four researchers at STA’s annual Science Meets Parliament, which was fully online in 2021, other than regional gala dinners. Participants heard from a diverse mix of Australia’s top scientists, including Chief Scientist Cathy Foley and Chief Defence Scientist Tanya Monro. FLEET’s four ECR delegates—Eli Estrecho (ANU), Peggy (Qi) Zhang (UNSW), Gary Beane (Monash) and Harley Scammell (UNSW)—were introduced …

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Maintaining international links in the absence of international travel

US–Australian transpacific condensed-matter talks The temporary halt in international visits that traditionally spark and fuel research collaborations in 2020 pushed FLEET to find new ways to connect. Some positives have surfaced amid the negative impacts of Covid-19 travel bans on science collaboration, including the expansion in videoconferencing allowing researchers from geographically isolated regions to connect. Together with Centre partners at …

Engaging with industry in 2020

FLEET is building links with partners interested in novel electronic devices and systems working towards the overarching goal of creating pathways to translations of research outcomes. Progress towards this important goal in 2020 included: Adding topological transistors to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Roadmap for Devices and Systems Lodging two provisional patents: topological switching (Fuhrer Monash and …

Topological-switching patents demonstrate FLEET’s dominance in field

Two patent applications, one filed in 2020, reinforce FLEET’s position as a world leader in topological transistors. The patents cover work in the ‘switching’ of topological material, to facilitate creation of a functioning topological transistor – a proposed new generation of ultra-low energy electronic devices. Their world-first success was the switching of a material via application of an electric-field between …

Liquid metals spin-off launched

The Liquid-metals spin-off company Liquid Metal Plus (LM+) initiated in 2020 with FLEET investigators Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh (UNSW) and Dr Torben Daeneke (RMIT), together with Dorna Esrafilzadeh (UNSW), was launched in April 2021. Pushing print on flexible touchscreens Climate rewind: turning CO2 back into coal The company has two areas of focus, with the unifying theme being application of liquid-metal technologies …

Explainer: Linkage funding for topological-thermoelectricity

A team led by FLEET CI Prof Xiaolin Wang (University of Wollongong) has won a linkage project for topological materials based thermoelectricity. Thermoelectricity can directly convert heat to electrical energy or vice-versa. It plays an important role in renewable and sustainable energy by harvesting waste heat, which is widely available in human body, computer chips, sunlight and steel industry. Thermoelectric …

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Thermoelectric devices convert waste heat from industry into viable new energy source

New research supports development of thermoelectric devices to convert waste heat from industry into a viable new energy source Australian industries could benefit from being able to harness the heat by-products from operations Development of advanced materials can sustainably convert waste heat into useful forms of energy to benefit Australia. The work will be undertaken as part of an Australian …

Building future science leaders in 2020

FLEET ensures that our young researchers are prepared for future success – wherever their career takes them. The Centre currently supports 64 higher degree by research (HDR) students and 45 postdoctoral researchers with another 21 research affiliates working on FLEET projects and invited to Centre training, workshops and events. FLEET connects its researchers with internal and international networks, for example, …

Monthly talks bring Australian research to the physics community

A series of talks spotlights leading Australian physics research for the physics community. Co-organised by FLEET and the Australian Institute of Physics, the series throws the spotlight on a different Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence each month, with AIP members and others in the physics community dialing in over zoom to hear about leading Australian research. To date, over …

Topological materials beat Boltzmann’s tyranny: Surpassing lower limit on computing energy consumption

Topological insulators can reduce transistor switching energy by a factor of four Defeating Boltzman’s tyranny, which puts a lower limit on operating voltage New FLEET research confirms the potential for topological materials to substantially reduce the energy consumed by computing. The collaboration of FLEET researchers from University of Wollongong, Monash University and UNSW have shown in a theoretical study that …

Skilling up our people in 2020: research impact and industry engagement

—Who would be interested in my research? Who would benefit from it the most? —How can I pursue high-impact research? —How does research translation work? —If I’ve developed some cool intellectual property, where would I start with industry engagement? —How do I effectively ‘sell’ the value of my research in an award application/grant/job interview? While researchers are typically familiar with …

FLEET heading to Melbourne Knowledge Week

Melbourne Knowledge Week (26 April-2 May 2021) will be an opportunity for FLEET to engage with the public about the exciting future of computing, and the vital role of energy-efficient electronics in that future. FLEET’s sustainable computing booth will run for the full week at the festival hub, with hands-on science demonstrations linked to materials used in FLEET research, such …

Online format is easy, enjoyable engaging: SMP 2021

This years’ Science Meets Parliament 2021 transitioned to a mostly virtual event and I must admit, I enjoyed this format thoroughly.  The format involved shorter sessions scheduled throughout March, which made it much easier to attend amongst other work and family commitments. This extended program was in conjunction with 2 full days of focused sessions with seminars on topics such …

Tools of the Trade: Zengji Yue explains ion intercalation for new Nature series

Inserting ions into, or between, atomically-thin materials can be used to alter their properties in a finely-controlled fashion. For example, graphene’s properties can be fine-tuned by injection of another material (a process known as ‘intercalation’) either underneath the graphene, or between two graphene sheets. (See article.) “Intercalating ions into layered materials increases the spacing and decreases the coupling between the …